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Letters to the editor: Nov. 13, 2017

I am writing in response to Ken Herman’s comments on yard signs. Sadly, he has missed the whole point.

As silly as it seemed, at first, I thought his comments were a joke. I guess it was to him. His tone implies that he seems to prefer hate over peace and love. President Trump’s message of hate and dividing this country seems to be working — at least for Ken Herman.

Someone who drives around their neighborhood reading yard signs is a little creepy to me. To bash me and my friends sounds very Trumpian to me.

DAN POGUE, MARBLE FALLS

From the driver’s handbook:

• The posted speed is a maximum, not a minimum.

• When turning right on red, turn from the right lane into the right lane.

• When turning left, turn from the left lane into the inside lane. If two lanes turn left, stay in your lane.

• If I signal a lane change, don’t speed up.

• Pick a lane and stay in it. It all evens out, and we end up sitting at the next light together.

• If you pull out in front of me, don’t go slower than I am.

• Please don’t use the chicken lane to enter the traffic piecemeal.

• Don’t use the exit-only lane to pass me on the right.

• Don’t ride my bumper trying to get me to go faster or change lanes.

• And when you die in a wreck ignoring these suggestions, please don’t take me with you.

MARILYN LOVE, AUSTIN

If we cannot fix the gun violence with laws, we could at least step up as a people and a government to support the victims.

Victims of mass shootings should automatically have U.S. government health care and disability for life. They shouldn’t depend on fundraisers to make up the difference.

They are victims of terrible acts we have made possible.

Their lives should not slide into hell after the shooting has left the headlines.

This is the minimum possible step we should expect from the federal government.

If you cannot fix the guns, help the victims of our shared inaction.

ALLEN JENSEN, AUSTIN

I am absolutely horrified of the deadly shooting in Sutherland Springs. I am dismayed President Trump’s first offerings of condolence to the victims and our nation was to assure us it wasn’t a gun issue but a mental health one.

Our governor, who is in re-election mode, offered his constituencies and gun supporters his staunch support of a militia-type arsenal — so keep the political payments coming. He did that by declaring the shooter as mentally ill, the new validating catchphrase for anyone’s misuse of weaponry designed to kill in mass amounts.

Sadly, we mix gun rights politics with condolence at the worst mass shooting in Texas history. Political promotion of a gun culture is rampant and dangerous. I own three hunting rifles that hold five rounds each. That’s plenty for hunting and protection — unless some bad guy has 40 round magazines and a bulletproof vest.

ROBERT WHITE, ROUND ROCK

An unintended and serendipitous commentary on gun violence in the United States comes from the 2017 film, “The Book of Henry,” a screenplay by Gregg Hurwitz.

The dialogue between 11-year-old Henry and his Mom is about child abuse, but it applies equally to the endless cycle of gun violence in our country:

Henry: Violence isn’t the worst thing in the world.

Mom: What is then?

Henry: Apathy.

If our only response to gun violence is “thoughts and prayers,” then our true response is apathy. There is no hope in apathy.

THE REV. ROBERT J. KARLI, AUSTIN

The Sutherland Springs shooter acquired a semiautomatic weapon and used it for the purpose for which is was engineered, manufactured, marketed and sold — presumably because a clerk in the greatest Air Force on earth forgot some data entry.

I would like to call attention to the rampant, senseless culture of guns in our culture and in the Texas Legislature. When we worship instruments of death, they will be used. We know this now. Is this the time for an intelligent reversal of this insane love affair with guns, or should we wait to see what next month’s mass shooting brings?

PAUL CARAPETYAN, AUSTIN

Delegates from around the world have gathered in Bonn, Germany, for meetings on the global climate treaty — including the landmark Paris Agreement. As a young person who will soon inherit the world that is handed down by our older, more experienced counterparts, I’m extremely concerned about climate change, especially since I feel that our environment is the only thing that we all have in common. Even as the president plans to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement and renege on our climate commitments, he’s sent a team to these negotiations to continue coaxing other countries to weaken their commitments as well.

I feel that the world needs action; islands like Barbuda and St. Martin already grapple with the devastating effects of climate change. I am writing to call on the U.S. to stand down and stop undermining the global climate talks.

A.J. ADDAE, FRISCO

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